nedlloyd

i think that depends how you define "better". i'm going to provide the same level of care for all my patients. even if someone is mean or rude to me its not like im going to hold off on giving them pain meds or whatever they may need. but i probably do spend less time/talk less with those patients.. i know there are people truly in pain/suffering that can be short and thats ok. but then there are those patients who just seem to have a bad attitude that you dont want to be around! an example that comes to mind, my third night in a row with this particular patient. i go in to the room and give him his pain meds as soon as i get out of report at 1930 b/c i knew he would be due/wanting them. he had visitors and while i'm in giving his IV dilaudid he is telling his visitors this hospital sucks, the nurses suck (no offense) they dont give me my pain meds. i'm leaving here tomorrow and going to a different hospital where i will get better care. meanwhile all his visitors are glaring at me. so then as im walking out of the room the pt says to me sarcastically "i guess i wont see you until the morning". really had to bite my tongue on that one! maybe you forgot the last 2 nights where i was in here every 2 hours for your dilaudid?? there was more but anyways... no, a pt that gets on my nerves like that, im not going to stick around and chit-chat. on the flip side, i had this patient who was just the nicest lady. i was having a crazy night but she wanted to talk and show me pics her grandkids made for her. so i took the 10 mins to stay and talk with her. i know she appreciated it and it made me feel good i could do that for her. so is that better care? i know if i was a patient i'd like it if my nurse could spend a few extra minutes just talking with me. i know its a lot to ask for given the nature of our jobs. but i think the same is true for any line of work, you make my job easier and i'll be more inclined to help you:)

i think its hard to say.. i used to come on this website a lot while i was prepping for the nclex and i would complain to my husband that i would never find a job b/c so many on here couldnt find work. he would always get mad and tell me not to stress b/c it was only the people who couldnt find work that would come on here and vent. I gradded in june 2009. i was 7 mo's pregnant at the time. didnt work at all, didnt take the nclex until september 2010, got my bls cert in mid october and then started applying. i applied to 4 positions and had 2 interviews. from the time i applied until my interviews was about 2 weeks, and then another 2 weeks until i got an offer (i took the first offer i got even though i would have preferred the other job). so for me it was not an issue at all. but there are a lot of girls on my floor who took 3, even 6+ months to get their job. i really wish i didnt know about this website until after i was already working. coming on here reading all the "i cant find a job" rantings stressed me out! PS just wanted to say your post didnt offend me, you sounded just like my husband did:lol2:

for me it would depend on the shift length/number of days worked to see if it was worthwhile or not. currently my commute is about an hour +/- 15 mins depending on traffic. i work 1900-0730. i'm up around 1645-1700, out the door by 1730 and i get home around 0830. its fine for one or 2 days, but after 3 days in a row the drive home can be hell. i declined a job offer on my dream unit b/c of this. it would have been about the same commute but working only 8 hour shifts. even though it was 40 hrs vs my current 36 the extra 2 days of commuting just wasn't worth it.

i get 3 half hour breaks on a 12 hour(or should i say thats what I'm SUPPOSED to get lol). first meal is breakfast-y, usually a banana, yogurt, maybe some cereal (i put it in a tupperware container and keep a little thing of milk in the staff fridge). lunch is leftovers or i make myself a sandwich. i'll also have a salad or some cut up veggies (salad dressing also in the fridge). third break depends.. hard boiled eggs and tomato slices i sprinkle with salt and pepper. more fruit. apples, cottage cheese with strawberries (when they're in season), maybe a granola bar or some nuts. sometimes i'll take a couple pieces of bread and throw some peanut butter or honey on there. I'll prob think of more to add later but those tend to be my staples. i try my best to include a protein source with every meal

personally i dont understand why YOU would be outraged. yes be sad for your friend, but as others have said, it's not just that single question that broke her. Nursing school is full of tricky questions. i remember when i was in everyone would argue about the "multiple multiple" choice questions and how they were unfair. guess what, we kept getting them. It is not the instructors job to make things easy for you. for what its worth, i had a couple instructors in school that i had been warned were really strict/mean. They ended up being my favorites! I learned WAY more from them than I did from some of the 'easier' ones. If you can do well with them, it will give you a huge confidence boost. and if you cant, just suck it up and get by...

advanced cardiac life support & pediatric advanced life support. Yes it will probably help if you only plan to apply online. Your certs vs new grad without certs would probably move you towards the top of the pile. But nothing will help so much as getting your face out there! start networking while you are still in school, hand deliver your resume to nurse managers and be sure to follow up! I was recently on the job hunt. I applied online for 4 positions, all i got back was an email from HR saying my application would be forwarded to the hiring managers. so i went and spoke with a few nurse managers. within a week i had calls to come in for 2 interviews (for jobs i hadnt even applied to online, all they had was my resume) and offered both positions.

I wasn't aware booking off was just a Canadian term.. I dont know of any research on the subject, nor have I ever done it. However, at the hospital I used to work at, one of the nursing sups was not very well liked. she would belittle nurses, yell at them, talk behind their backs etc. When staffing would try to replace sick calls some of the casuals would ask who the sup was and would refuse to come in if she was working. eventually they moved her to nights and finally forced her to resign. then she came to my department (4 of our best nurses quit within a few months).

I received my notice to renew RN license in the mail a few weeks ago with a note at the top stating that, starting on your renewal date in 2011, you have 3 years to complete 531 practice hours and 45 hours of continuing competency. I do think this is a good idea. I was actually surprised when I moved to WA that there were no continuing ed requirements. The practice hours shoudn't be a problem for most, but I am wondering about the continuing ed... I assume things like ACLS (ACLS recert maybe?) would all qualify for education, but even that only goes so far. My hospital does have the odd inservice but I rarely attend since I work night shift (they usually have them in the middle of the afternoon) and my commute to work is 1 hour each way and I'm not about to drive 2 hours to work on my day off when I don't get paid. I looked on the DOH website and some of their suggestions include nursing research/having your work published (no thanks) as well as "independent study". I'm sure it will end up being less of a hassle than I am currently anticipating. Even though I still have 3 years starting in Jan, I would like to get a jump on things now.. I am a terrible procrastinator and I know that if I at least start thinking about this soon, I will be better off for it. So what plans do the allnurses of WA have for continuing competency:)

i think everyone should start out in med/surg! get familiar with nursing skills, meds, everything really.. I think it helps to build up some confidence, even though the first few months will be undoubtedly stressful. A good med/surg job will help you to "learn the ropes" and make you so much better prepared for wherever you might choose to go after. it really bugs me when new grads say I would never work med/surg:mad: I can understand not wanting to work LTC because you will not have as much opportunity to practice the new skills you just paid good $$ to learn. but med/surg? You will experience all types of patients there, you will learn and do so much! it seems more and more new grads these days dont want to spend any time in med/surg. I know some do just fine as a new nurse working a specialty, but the fact is, many do not and I can't help but think how their nursing career could be so much more positive if they started out with a more humble and realistic outlook. my personal preference:D med/surg, ER (where I am now) and I always thought ICU somewhere down the road, but I just don't know if I'll ever be ready to leave the ER, certainly not anytime soon

I think the incentives to go into nursing are largely personal, at least for me. I wanted to be a nurse since I was very young, it's truly my passion, I derive personal satisfaction from it (usually) and if I wasn't working as a nurse I have NO IDEA what I would do instead. I would say the pay in most places is "comfortable". Certainly by no means would I call it generous... The potential is there to make the big bucks but that comes with sacrifice. Sure, if I was still single and had no kids I would pick up overtime, maybe work a second job somewhere. But my family comes first now. I don't think you're making a bad move. You don't sound all that motivated about nursing to be honest. Nursing school is hard work and the initial payoff once you graduate may not be much better, job market for new grads is tough right now, ****** hours (if you are lucky enough to get a job), the stress of adjusting to life as a new nurse can be difficult. How do you feel about your clinicals? Did you think they were going well or did it catch you off guard when your instructor approached you? And maybe most importantly, do you enjoy clinical? personally, if i was working a 70k stress free federal job, unless i truly hated my life, i probably would not leave unless i knew i was leaving to pursue a true passion best of luck in whatever you decide

i think that would be a fantastic opportunity! i always wanted to do something like that. i had the opportunity to go to Ghana a few years ago, but was pregnant at the time and my husband was deployed so i chose not to go. i don't regret my decision but i still feel like i missed out big time. I think it would definitely give you a leg up on other new grads. You will be developing your critical thinking, be expected to make independent decisions/utilize your nursing judgement and care for a large number of patients with limited resources. Best of luck:)

at my hospital we always work the same shifts unless we're called in to cover a shift. It's nice not having to constantly switch back and forth from days to nights. our shifts are 06-1830, 1800-0630, 09-1730, 11-2330, 1700-0330 and 1700-0130. the previous ER I worked in only used to have 07-19 or 19-07 shifts, you would work 2 days then 2 nights. they ended up adding positions for 09-21 and 11-23 so there was better continuing coverage but the majority of nurses still worked the day/night rotations.

that definitely sounds like a scam. dont send them any money!

might not be a bad idea. I was talking to a dental assistant one time waiting for my dentist to come in and she was telling me how she planned to go back to school for a hygienist position and she would be making 35/hour, which is quite a bit more than most RNs in my area, plus M-F work and no weekends/holidays. I know it's not for me though... even though us nurses deal with "gross" things all day, the thought of poking around in someones mouth all day gets to me:uhoh3:

we get paid for 1 hr of overtime. I guess I haven't worked enough time change nights because I can't recall it affecting my charting. If there was to be a discrepancy in time I would prob explain in the nursing notes "daylight savings time observed" or whatever. In terms of meds, we always followed the schedule ordered by the Dr, so if it was q6h and last dose was at 2400, the next dose would come 6 hrs later at 0500 and times in the MAR would be adjusted.